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| | A fascinating and influential political movement began to develop around 1900: the progressive movement. It started with a Republican governor of Wisconsin named Robert LaFollette. It was not so much a political party as a movement that can be summarized in two words: "better government." Not "less government" that a conservative like President James Monroe wanted, and not "more government" that a liberal like Franklin Delano Roosevelt wanted, but "better government." | | A fascinating and influential political movement began to develop around 1900: the progressive movement. It started with a Republican governor of Wisconsin named Robert LaFollette. It was not so much a political party as a movement that can be summarized in two words: "better government." Not "less government" that a conservative like President James Monroe wanted, and not "more government" that a liberal like Franklin Delano Roosevelt wanted, but "better government." |
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| − | Then, as now, progressives tended to work within other political parties. We have progressives today in both parties. New Jersey Republicans, like Bret Schundler (the former mayor of Jersey City) and Governor Chris Christie, tend to be more progressive than conservative. They try to run government in a smarter manner, rather than simply reducing it. We have had two progressive presidents: Republican Teddy Roosevelt and Democrat Woodrow Wilson. The high point of the movement, the "progressive era," was 1900-1920. | + | Then, as now, progressives tended to work within other political parties, but today they are mostly within the Democratic Party. They try to run government in a smarter manner, rather than simply reducing it. We have had two progressive presidents: Republican Teddy Roosevelt and, later, Democrat Woodrow Wilson. The high point of the movement, the "progressive era," was 1900-1920. |
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| | Here were the goals of the progressive movement: | | Here were the goals of the progressive movement: |
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| | *Suffrage for all women (Constitutional Amendment) | | *Suffrage for all women (Constitutional Amendment) |
| | *Direct elections of senators (Constitutional Amendment) | | *Direct elections of senators (Constitutional Amendment) |
| − | *Civil service system rather than a spoils system | + | *Civil service (merit) system rather than a spoils system |
| | *More "equitable" tax laws (Constitutional Amendment) | | *More "equitable" tax laws (Constitutional Amendment) |
| | *Breaking up monopolies | | *Breaking up monopolies |
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| | *More, but smarter, regulation | | *More, but smarter, regulation |
| | *Anti-war | | *Anti-war |
| − | *Slightly pro-business | + | *Slightly pro-business in the early 1900s, but anti-business today |
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| − | A specific example of what the progressive movement addressed was the "Triangle Fire" that took place in New York City on March 25, 1911. This was the worst workplace disaster in New York City until the terrorist attack on 9/11 (interesting coincidence in the two dates: _911 and 9/11). In the Triangle Fire, 140 people burned to death, many of them young girls, due to a 10-minute fire that swept through a "sweatshop" shirt factory in Manhattan. Tragically, the doors had been locked to keep workers from taking breaks or stealing goods, and the girls could not quickly escape. Public outrage followed, and the progressive movement passed building code laws to help protect against this happening again. To this day it is not know what started the Triangle Fire, and (to the chagrin of the progressives) the owners were acquitted of any crimes.<ref>http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/</ref> | + | A specific example of what the progressive movement addressed was the "Triangle Fire" that took place in New York City on March 25, 1911. This was the worst workplace disaster in New York City until the terrorist attack on 9/11 (interesting coincidence in the two dates: 1911 and 9/11). In the Triangle Fire, 140 people burned to death, many of them young girls, due to a 10-minute fire that swept very quickly through a "sweatshop" shirt factory in Manhattan. Tragically, the doors had been locked to keep workers from taking breaks or stealing goods, and the girls could not escape fast enough. Public outrage followed, and the progressive movement passed building code laws to help protect against this happening again. To this day it is not know what started the Triangle Fire, and (to the chagrin of the progressives)₤ the owners were acquitted of any crimes.<ref>http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/</ref> |
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| | + | When you hear the term "progressive" today, it refers to a very pro-government, anti-business strand of the progressive era of a hundred years ago. Today progressives are entirely in the Democratic Party, and support Bernie Sanders for president in 2020. Note, however, that 12% of the Democrat Bernie Sanders' supporters in 2016 voted for the Republican Donald Trump in the general election, which suggests that some progressives like attempts by Trump to make government work better. |
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| | == References == | | == References == |